Manual assist terminal applicator

ABSTRACT

Wires for terminal application are slid at right angles to the wire axis along a support plate with the bared end of the wire in contact with an aligning fence. The wires at their inner ends drop through a narrow slot and fall into a laterally expanded groove within the periphery of a resilient transport belt at the point where the belt is radially distorted. The belt frictionally grasps the inserted wire and moves the same beneath a terminal applicator for automatic termination. The pitch of the slot is coordinated with an intermittent drive mechanism for driving the belt such that wire loading and terminal application occurs during the dwell portion of the transport cycle. The terminal applicator is fully shielded from the machine operator with the shield also guiding the wires from the feed station to the applicator station and thence to the discharge station.

United States Patent [1 1 Wion Apr. 16, 1974 MANUAL ASSIST TERMINAL APPLICATOR [75] Inventor: Donald Andrew Wion, Devon Manor, Pa.

[73] Assignee: AMP Incorporated, Harrisburg, Pa.

[22] Filed: July 3, 1972 [21] App]. No.: 268,339

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,768,425 10/1956 Andren 29/203 D 3,267,556 8/1966 Scharf.... 29/203 D 3,343,398 9/1967 Kerns 72/416 X 3,456,324 7/1969 Hahn et al. 29/603 A Primary Examiner-Thomas l-l. Eager Attorney, Agent, or Flint- AMI Incorporated 57 ABSTRACT Wires for terminal application are slid at right angles to the wire axis along a support plate with the bared end of the wire in contact with an aligning fence. The wires at their inner ends drop through a narrow slot and fall into a laterally expanded groove within the periphery of a resilient transport belt at the point where the belt is radially distorted. The belt frictionally grasps the inserted wire and moves the same beneath a terminal applicator for automatic termination. The pitch of the slot is coordinated with an intermittent drive mechanism for driving the belt such that wire loading'and terminal application occurs during the dwell portion of the transport cycle. The terminal applicator is fully shielded from the machine operator with the shield also guiding the wires from the feed station to the applicator station and thence to the discharge station.

15 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures .52 I, mu l 1 ENTEDAPR 1 5 974 v PATENTEDAPR 16 I974 SHEET 2 [IF 4 MANUAL ASSIST TERMINAL APPLICATOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a terminal applicator for crimping electrical terminals to the end of a wire, and more particularly to a manual assist feed mechanism which permits high speed accurate feeding of the wire to the terminal applicator while fully shielding the op erator from the terminal applicator.

2. Description of the Prior Art semiautomatic terminal applicators have recently come into vogue in which a strip of electrical connectors are automatically fed into a position relative to a descendable press ram for permitting the crimping of a lead terminal to the end of a terminal receiving wire. conventionally, the terminal includes a U-shaped barrel portion, the leading portion of which is normally crimped to the insulation surrounding the wire conductor rearwardly of the bared end and wherein the trailing portion of the barrel terminal section is crimped to the bared wire. Alternatively, the terminal may comprise a closed barrel, in which case, it is necessary to insert the wire end accurately within the barrel, prior to crimp- 18- With the trend towards improved safety requirements for industrial machinery of this type, various guards have been employed in the past to prevent a machine operator who manually places each wire into crimping position beneath the press ram, from inadvertently placing his fingers under the descending press during terminal application. In general, the presence of the guard restricting access to the applicator or termination area has the effect of reducing the production, involves a restricted opening, requiring the operator to exactly locate the wire in the crimping zone. Obviously, the more restrictive the opening, the higher degree of precision is required in moving each individual wire into the crimping zone with resultant reduction in production rate.

Conventionally, a small sheet metal guard is positioned in front of the descending ram of the unit applicator with the guard carrying a longitudinal slot permitting the operator to manually insert wires through the slot from one side to the other, the wires passing into the crimping zone where the lead terminal is applied to the inserted wire. As the slot becomes narrower and narrower to increase the safety of the guard, it is increasingly difficult to insert the wire accurately with the end of the wire purposely located at a given position within the crimping zone. In a conventional semiautomatic machine, the operator places the wire against a stripping bar, that is, a vertical locator which centers a wire above the anvil and positions the end of the wire relative to the terminal to be applied. The operator then depresses a foot switch which operates the press causing a U-shaped die to descend such that the walls of the U-shaped die contact the sides of the barrel and effectively crirnps the barrel about the wire. The U-shaped configuration of the die more or less gathers the wire into position forcrimping so that the wire may be in the general vicinity and the depression of the U- shaped die carries the wire to the terminal and aligns it prior to crimping by full depression of the die against the anvil. Further, during operation, the operator normally grasps a number of wires and actually fans them individually into crimping position; a further deficiency in such manual feeding resides in the fact that the operator must accurately locate the position of the wire prior to the depression of the foot operated switch. During operation, the operator gets into rhythm with the machine. However, as the operator goes faster and faster, there are bound to be some wires that are not properly terminated. The possibility of an improperly terminated wire increases as the wire insertion opening decreases in an attempt to improve the safety features of the machine.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to the achievement of an extremely effective shield or guard arrangement for a semi-automatic terminal applicator in conjunction with an improved simplified conveyor that is responsive to manual loading of the wires on the conveyor for accurate positioning of the end of the wires relative to the terminal applicator, and wherein the production rate of the terminal applicator is not compromised by the improved shielding of the applicator zone from the operator.

Specifically, the manual assist terminal applicator of the present invention comprises a crimping press having a crimping zone including a fixed crimping anvil underlying a crimping die with the anvil incorporating a supporting surface for supporting a terminal during application thereof to the end of a wire. The die is movable between open and closed positions along a first path towards and away from the anvil. Terminal strip feeding means moves a strip of terminals along a second path which extends transversely to the first path, the second path ending at the surface whereby the leading terminal of the strip is located on the surface. A conveyor transports wires from the loading zone to the crimping zone and constitutes an endless belt having spaced apart wire receiving slots extending transversely thereon, the slots opening onto the outer periphery of the belt. The belt is mounted for rotation on a pair of longitudinally spaced sprockets on respective sides of the crimping zone and defining therewith, a loading zone and a discharge zone. A longitudinal run of the belt extends between sprockets and defines a reference plane generally coplanar to the supporting surface of the anvil. The slots are laterally enlarged at the loading and discharge stations by virtue of the peripheral elongation of. the belt to permit loading of the wires onto the belt and discharge of the wires therefrom. During the longitudinal run, the lateral reduction in the size of the slots causes frictional gripping of the loaded wires. An extended wire supporting surface extends longitudinally away from the conveyor at the loading station, and a fixed wire stop surface on the same side of the conveyor as the die acts to locate the ends of the wires in a group, prior to manually moving the lead wire of the group along the extended wire supporting surface and into peripheral contact with the belt, for movement within one of the wire receiving slots. A fixed guide plate is positioned above the belt and extends longitudinally thereof, overlying the upper run of the belt to assist guiding of the wire from the loading station to the crimping station and thence to the discharge station. A roller rotatably carried by the guide plate contacts the periphery of the belt and is vertically aligned with the axis of the loading station sprocket to rotatably press the leading end of the wire into a wire receiving slot. Intermittent motion is given to the endless belt to permit one stationary slot to be aligned at the crimping station, while another wire is being inserted within a slot at the loading station. A spring biased ramp raises the inboard end of the wire on the applicator side of the endless belt as the conveyed wire approaches the crimping station. This permits the raised wire end to be depressed by the movable die, into the center of the U- shaped barrel portion of the terminal to be applied thereto. A pair of microswitches respectively sense the dwell portion of the feed cycle of the intermittently driven belt and the presence of a wire at the crimping station and effects operation of the crimping press. Slotted, fixed guide means at the discharge station engates the crimped wire to assist in gravity removal of the wire from its peripherally enlarged slot. Preferably, the endless belt is of molded rubber having molded slots on the outer periphery and molded teeth on the inner periphery for engagement with sprocket teeth for insuring that at each dwell portion of the feed cycle, a peripheral slot of the belt is located in alignment with the existing slot between the inboard end of the extended wire supporting surface and the overlying hold down plate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the improved manual assist terminal applicator of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view, partially in section, of the applicator of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view, partially in section, and partially broken away, of the applicator of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is an electrical schematic diagram of the control circuit for the press drive motor of the applicator of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional, elevational view of an alternate embodiment of the present invention illustrating an alternate form of the endless transport belt forming a portion thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Turning to the drawings, there is illustrated in FIG. 1 the improved manual assist terminal applicator of the present invention indicated at 10, consisting essentially ofa press 12 mounted on a bench or like suitable horizontal support 14, with the operator normally standing in front of the press, and facing the same, that is, facing a front wall 16 ofa raised wire support 18. Press 12 is operatively coupled to a terminal applicator of the type shown in US Pat. No. 3,343,398 issued to David Ronald Kerns Sept. 26, 1967, and assigned to the common assignee, the applicator 20 being essentially surrounded by a plastic, rectangular shield 22.

Press 12 is fixed to the horizontal bench 14 and is provided with the rear or back plate 24. The press consists essentially, of a fly wheel housing 26 and an irregular rectangular housing 28 which support a drive motor and fly wheel (not shown), and a reciprocating press ram 30, to which is operatively coupled a depressable applicator die 32 carrying a U-shaped opening 34 within its bottom end face. The die 32 cooperates with a fixed anvil 36, FIG. 3, to crimp a barrel portion 38 of a lead terminal 40 of an end strip 42 of terminals, which are rotatably supported for extraction from a reel 44 at the rear of the applicator. An L-shaped guide is fixed to the press and guides the strip 42 into a crimping station B which lies intermediate of a loading station A to the left of unit applicator 20 and a discharge station C which lies to the right of the crimping station B. The press 12 and the unit applicator 20 form no part of the present invention, and the operation of the same may be evident by reference to the previously mentioned Kerns US. Pat. No. 3,343,398.

Essentially, an electrical drive motor rotates the fly wheel which, in turn, is coupled, by means of a single revolution clutch under energization of an electric control means, to the press ram 30, causing in turn cyclic reciprocation of anvil 32 which completes a crimping operation by crimping a U-shaped barrel in this case about the bared end of a wire W shown, in FIG. 3, as being in alignment with the crimping station B and with the bared end inserted within the barrel 38 of the lead terminal 40. The terminals 40 are supplied in the form of a continuous strip 42 and the strip is withdrawn from the reel 44 as the individual terminals are crimped onto the wires W.

The improved feeding mechanism 48 of the present invention forms an important aspect of the present invention, along with the improved shielding arrangement indicated generally at 50. In this regard, it is necessary to prevent the operator from in any way having access to the crimping zone at crimping station B and the applicator 20. The wire transport mechanism 48 is particularly designed such that each wire is manually moved into operative position with respect to the transport mechanism at a point remote from the crimping station B. The minimum distance from the crimping station E is obviously the distance that a wire is moved on the transport mechanism during each intermittent advancement of the same. Further, this distance is in part determined by the area of the crimping zone or crimping station. The fixed anvil 36 extends to each side of the terminal 40 and likewise the sides of the applicator die 32 extend a finite distance to each side of its slot 34. That is, in a given applicator, the anvil or crimping blade is approximately $4 of an inch in width and obviously, the prior crimped wire and the succeeding wire being terminated must be at least of an inch to either side to clear the tooling.

The improved wire transport mechanism of the present invention is carried within the raised wire support 18 and comprises a flat, horizontal support plate 51 defining a wire support surface 52 lying in front of the terminal applicator 20 and extending to each side of the crimping station B. Coupled thereto, and extending away from the feeding station A at the left hand end of plate 51, is second support plate 53 defining an extended wire supporting surface 54 which is raised slightly from the surface 52. Plate 53 has an inclined edge 56 permitting the wires W to move in single fashion from a group G on the extended wire supporting surface 54 and to fall off the edge 56 and onto wire supporting surface 54. Further, rectangular recesses or openings 58 and 60 are formed within plates 53 and 51,

respectively, which permits the operator to manually grasp a given wire between the operators fingers for movement from left to right and thus to the loading station A as defined partially by the inclined edge 56 of support plate 53. The support plate 51 is cut away at the rear as at 62 and through this opening projects the upper run 64 of an endless conveyor belt 66. Belt 66 is trained about a load sprocket 68 at the loading station A and a discharge sprocket 70 at discharge station C.

Sprockets 68 and 70 carry teeth 72 which engage the timing belt teeth 74 on the inner periphery of the endless transport belt 66. Preferably, the endless belt 66 is of molded polyurethane. The outer periphery of the belt is provided with longitudinally spaced transversely extending slots or grooves 76 which are provided at a pitch which is coordinated with the mechanism for intermittently advancing the belt in a clockwise direction, FIG. 2. The slot 62 within plate 51 terminates at its inboard end, adjacent the inclined edge 56 of the wire support surface 54. Further, the sprockets 68 and 70 are mounted for rotation about their axes by means of fixed supports 78 and shafts 98 and 144, such that one run of the belt protrudes slightly above the plane of the wire supporting surface 52. In this regard, each of the wire receiving slots 76 are presented to the edge 56 of the extended wire supporting surface 54 at the point where the belt 66 is wrapped around the periphery of the load sprocket 68.

The present invention is particularly cognizant of the fact that the rubber belt 66 has its outer periphery stretched as it passes over the sprockets. As such, the side walls of slots or grooves 76 are laterally spaced to a greater extent in these areas of belt movement than in terms of either the upper run 64 and the lower run 65, where the belt moves longitudinally. Thus, a given wire W at the loading station A, easily falls over the inclined edge 56 of the extended wire supporting surface onto wire supporting surface 52 with a leading portion falling into an enlarged slot 76 on the periphery of the belt at the loading station sprocket 68. As the endless feed belt 66 moves away from the loading station, and at the point where the belt passes through a vertical plane including the axis of sprocket 68, the belt relaxes, the width of the slot 76 decreases, and the inserted wire is frictionally grasped to such an extent that withdrawal axially in the direction of the slot is highly resisted, thus maintaining the wires in inserted position as the wires are advancing serially from the loading station A to the intermediate crimping station B. i

In order to properly position each of the wires in terms of locating the end of the wire to be crimped relative to terminal 40, the apparatus is provided with a horizontally adjustable fence 80 which is L-shaped in configuration and rises above the wire supporting surfaces 52 and 54. Fence 80 constitutes a wire end guide for wires from group G as the individual wires W are moved to the loading station A. Suitable screws 82 and 84 permit adjustment of the fence 80 relative to the plane of the descending die 32. Screws 84 couple the fence 80 to the rear end of a hold down plate 86, which has a curved entry lip 88 generally conforming to the outer periphery of the feed belt 66, the hold down plate 86 thus being provided with a bottom guide surface 90 which closely overlies the periphery of the feed belt 66, both in terms of the portion extending about the periphery of the sprocket 68 and upper run 64 extending from the loading station A to the crimping station B. Further, in the embodiment of FIGS. 1-4, the hold down plate 86 is provided with a rectangular opening 92, within which is positioned a roller 94 mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis on shaft 96 and being of a size such that the periphery of the roller contacts the outer periphery of the belt 66. Further, the axis of roller 94 defines, in conjunction with sprocket mounting shaft 98, a vertical plane. With the presence of roller 94, it is not necessary that there is exact positioning,

or in fact, full insertion of a wire W within the peripheral slot 76 since as the belt 66 moves into contact with the bottom guide surface of the hold down plate 86, a wire which partially protrudes from its wire receiving slot 76, will contact the roller 94 and rotate therewith and at the same time the force exerted by the roller causes the wire to be depressed within the transversely extending slot 76 at approximately the same time at which the width of the slot 76 reduces to fully frictionally grasp the inserted wire.

The wires are advanced intermittently from the loading station A to the crimping stationB. In that respect, a continuously rotating electric motor having a given r. p. m. and constituting, for instance, a Hall effect elec tric motor of conventional construction, is associated with a speed reducer in a compact unit 100. The output 7 of unit 100 is coupled by means of endless chain 102 to another unit 104 of conventional construction which gives basically a Geneva movement. That is, for each full rotation of the input shaft 106, the output shaft 108 is given a partial rotation for a portion of the full revolution of the input shaft and no rotation for the remaining portion of that input shaft rotation. In the system shown, output shaft 108 rotates only during the first 90 movement of the input shaft 106, and is stationary for the next 270 of input shaft rotation. In this respect, therefore, output sprocket 1 10 rotates intermittently as does the endless chain 112 and the loading sprocket 68 which is coupled thereto. Fixed to the input shaft 106 is a rotary earn 1 14 which is provided with a radially enlarged portion 115 over most of its periphery and a radially depressed or recessed peripheral portion 116 over a minor portion of its periphery. A microswitch actuator 118 is carried by microswitch 120 and presses on the microswitch button 122 to close the normally open switch contacts during the time when the cam f0llower 118 is riding on the full radially enlarged periphery 115 of cam 1E4. As indicated in FIG. 4, the microswitch 120 has a pair of normally open contacts which are in series with the normally open contacts of a second microswitch 1124 which carries a microswitch actuator 126 extending therefrom and in a position to sense the presence or absence of a wire within a given peripheral slot '76 of the conveyor belt 66 at crimping station B. Inturn, the microswitches 120 and 122 are wired into a circuit including an electrical source 128, and a clutch motor 1330 such that the clutch motor 130 associated with the press 112 is energized only during cyclic closure of the contacts of microswitch 120 and closure of the contacts of microswitch 124 sensing die presence or absence of a wire within a given belt slot 76. With the exception of the manual feeding of the wires to the endless conveyor 66, termination is achieved automatic ally.

The two conditions which must be met prior to activation of the press are: (l) the belt is stationary, micro switch 120 sensing the cyclic position of the drive mechanism; and (2) the presence of a wire within a given belt slot. In syncrhonization of the system, it is.

vance. Further, since it is important that the inserted end of the wire be in proper position with respect to the terminal barrel which is receiving the same, it is envisioned that a third microswitch or some other means could be positioned in the vicinity of the wire feeding station A or downstream thereof, such that at the time of or subsequent to full frictional grasping of the wire W by the belt slot or groove, it is ascertained that the end of the wire is properly positioned to receive the terminal barrel and, thus, the further insurance of a proper termination. It is to be noted, that the front edge 132 of the hold down plate 86 extends forwardly, beyond the edge opening 62, and further that the plate itself extends from the loading station A to a position slightly beyond the crimping station B. This fully prevents the operator from any access to the applicator or the press ram. Rectangular shield 22 rises upwardly from the hold down plate 86 at the rear thereof. Further, a thin sheet material guard 134 overlies the upper surface 136 of the hold down plate 86 from a position forwardly of the crimping station B to a position beyond the end of the discharge stations C, the curved terminal end 138 of the shield extending below the center line of the longitudinally spaced feed belt support sprocket 68 and 70. Further, the end 138 of the shield extends beyond the right hand end of the opening 62 within wire supporting surface 52 and an end plate 140 at the right hand end of the same. End plate 140 is slotted as at 142 at its upper end and in conjunction with the outer periphery of the endless feed belt 66, provides means for insuring the discharge of the terminated wires W as the outer periphery of the belt again stretches as it passes over the discharge sprocket 70. Normally, the expansion of the transverse groove or slot within the periphery of the belt is to such an extent that the terminated wire is readily discharged by gravity, as the belt passes across a horizontal plane defined by the axis 98 of sprocket 68 and the axis of shaft 144 of the discharge sprocket 70.

Lying behind the endless belt 86 is a fixed ramp 146 having an upwardly inclined edge 148 from the direction away from the loading station A, the upper edge 148 of the ramp terminating at movable ramp 152 in the vicinity of the crimping station E and above the level of the fixed anvil 36. Thus, the extreme inner end of the wire which extends outwardly beyond the slot or groove 76 receiving the same, is raised by the ramps 146 and 152 which lie to the inside of the belt relative to the crimping die 32, such that the crimping die 32 during its downward movement, first contacts the extreme inner end of the wire and forces the wire to move downward and to enter the upturned sides of the U- shaped barrel portion 38 of terminal 40 prior to crimped deformation of the sides of the barrel about respective bared wire and insulated portions of the wire end. In this respect, the ramp 152 is spring biased by means ofa leaf spring 150 which abuts the bottom edge of the ramp, tending to position the ramp 152 above the level of the anvil 38. However, as the press ram 30 and the die 32 descend, the presence of the wire in contact with the upper edge of ramp 152, forces the ram to descend against the light pressure presented by the leaf spring 150 and crimping of the barrel portions of the terminal to the wire W is achieved without interference from the ramp 152. The function of the ramps 146 and 152 is, therefore, to lift the wire ends so that they may be properly dropped into position within the U-shaped barrel portion of the terminals in successive cyclic operations of the machine in which new terminals are being presented to new wires carried within the slots 76 of the transport mechanism. The pitch of the slots 76 corresponds to the cyclic output of sprocket so that the wires advance intermittently and in which case a new slot is always aligned with the opening between inclined edge 89 of the hold down plate 86 and the inclined edge 56 of support plate 53, while at the same time a wire several slots downstream on the endless conveyor is presented properly to the crimping station B. Essentially, at the same time, a given third groove or slot 76 is in position at discharge station C to open by peripheral stretching of its walls and to permit the discharge of a terminated wire.

Turning to FIG. 5, a modification in the arrangement for insuring proper seating of the wire within the transverse slots of the transport belt and also for properly orienting the belt in its longitudinal run. Like elements are given like primed numerical designations. In this case, the belt is provided with a central, peripheral protrusion which extends throughout the length of the same. In this case, the belt 66 is provided with a protrusion or ridge 300 at its center, which passes through a longitudinal slot or groove 302 extending the full length of the hold down plate 86, the belt being provided on its outer periphery with spaced transverse slots or grooves 76 which receive the individual wires W with their ends protruding essentially to one side of the hold down plate or guide 86. Rather than employing the single roller such as roller 94 of the first embodiment, a pair of rollers 94 are mounted for rotation about their axes on shafts 96' within openings 92 at spaced longitudinal positions on each side of the center line of the hold down plate. Thus, instead of a single roller, a pair of rollers are provided, the rollers being vertically oriented with respect to a plane passing through the axis of shaft 98' upon which the feed sprocket 68' supporting the belt is carried, and the axes of the individual shafts 96' supporting the pair of rollers 94. Ridge 300 insures lateral alignment of the transport belt 66 relative to guide 86.

In the embodiment of FIG. 5, without the protrusion or ridge 300 running down the center of the belt, it is possible to feed a wire between the belt and the hold down plate 86 as in the first embodiment, in which case, the belt sandwiches the wire which may, for instance, not fall within any given slot 76 and in which case the wire is angled other than perpendicular to the axis of the belt and may actually jam between the belt and the overlying hold down plate. I

Depending on the characteristics of the belt, the friction will pick up the wire, carry it up and under the hold down plate 86 until it meets the roller 94, whereupon, it stays there until the belt advances again and when the next slot comes up which is open, the wire is automatically rolled into the slot and goes through the mechanism properly. However, if by chance there is a wire in the slot before it reaches the roller, then two wires will be trying to get into the same slot and jamming may occur. To prevent this, the presence of the ridge 300 prevents the wire from moving under the fixed hold down plate 86' and the wire cannot move under the inclined leading edge 89' of the hold down plate 86' until another unoccupied slot 76 comes around. At this point, the wire then drops into the slot and there is no chance of multiple wires being fed or attempted to be fed through a single slot.

From the above, it is seen that the present invention is directed to two individual aspects: the shielding aspect, that is, the prevention of the operator from getting his fingers into the crimping zone associated with crimping station B during a manual feeding of the wires to the conveyor means 48, and, further, the guide means for insuring proper positioning of the wire onto the belt and also maintaining the wire once it is located within a peripheral slot on the belt, up until discharge at discharge station C. From the above description, it is noted that it is not possible for the operator to place his fingers in the area of the crimping tool, and although such shielding means have been provided in the past, it has actually deterred increased production rates. Further, while it is true that the presence of the hold down plate 86 shields the operator from the endless conveyor belt 66, this is not a particularly dangerous hazard, since in fact the operator may place his fingers on the belt and at most would get a slight pinch during contraction of the belt slots after they pass about the periphery of one of the sprockets. The important aspect of the belt and the shield and the plate 86 is proper positioning of the wire initially with respect to the slots of the belt, the slot receiving the same and the maintenance of the wire in the proper position for crimping. The belt itself, while preferably made of polyurethane, may be formed of any elastomeric material such as rubber or the like. Further, while the peripheral slots 76' on the belt are essentially rectangular in configuration when the belt is in relaxed state, and open up into more of a V-shape when stretched about the periphery of the sprockets holding the same, they may conceivably be of some other shape, since rectangular slots could be formed on the sprocket periphery which then converge to more closely hold or grasp the wires after insertion. Further, it is evident that machine operation can be speeded up by more closely spacing the individual slots on the periphery of the belt, that is, changing the pitch.

In either form, the operator merely has to pick up a bundle of wires and feed the wires into the feeding station A, where the wire automatically enters a given slot which is open to an extent to permit the same and subsequently in contacting the rollers and the associated hold down plate 86, the wires are inserted within the slot to a predetermined position which is proper with respect to crimping station B. Further, the presence of the fence 80 insures by end contact of the leading end of the wire, proper axial orientation of the wire with respect to the terminal 40 being applied thereto. The apparatus of the present invention permits up to 5800 wires per hour to be terminated and without in any way endangering the operator. Further, due to the presence of microswitch 124, there is no terminal wasted if in fact a wire is not present in each and every slot 76. if the belt is travelling at a fairly high rate of speed, the average over a period of time will still be high, even though some slots are missed, without sacrificing safety in terms of the operator. It is further envisioned that the present invention has application to a fully automatic machine, in which the wires may be fed to the loading station A from a hopper or the like. Further, it is envisioned that the present system has application to a terminal applicator in which the terminals are fed at other than right angles to the direction of wire feed, that is,

they may be fed parallel with the wire feed, from left to right or from right to left, in opposition thereto.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In an apparatus for applying terminals at the ends of wires including: a crimping press having a crimping zone, said crimping zone being formed by a fixed crimping anvil and a crimping die movable towards and away from said anvil, terminal strip feeding means for feeding a strip of terminals into said zone, onto said anvil and in the path of said die, the improvement comprising:

an elastomeric conveyor for transporting wires from a loading station to said crimping zone said conveyor carrying transverse longitudinally spaced slots for receiving wires therein, said conveyor being positioned to one side of said crimping zone so as to place an extended portion of each wire within said zone and in juxtaposition to the leading terminal of said strip, said ellastomeric conveyor comprising an endless elastomen'c belt supported by sprockets at respective ends on opposite sides of said crimping station with the leading sprocket defining said loading station and said trailing sprocket defining a discharge station, said sprockets serving to transversely expand each slot at said loading station and said discharge station to permit wire loading and unloading a wire support source surface to one side of said loading station extending laterally away from said loadingstation in the direction opposite to that of the crimping station, and

a second fixed surface at said loading station and extending along said wire support surface and defining a wire end stop whereby wires supported on said wire support surface with their ends in contact with said end stop may be readily manually loaded onto said conveyor for subsequent presentment to said crimping station.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: means for intermittently advancing said elastomeric conveyor and wherein the spacing between respective slots is such as to present one wire at said crimping station and an unfilled slot simultaneously at said loading station.

3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a hold down plate overlying said endless belt, in juxtaposition thereto, said hold down plate extending from said loading station to said crimping station and including a lip conforming to a portion of said belt in contact with the periphery of said leading sprocket and spaced slightly from the edge of the wire support sur face to define a gap therebetween permitting a wire to fall into a laterally expanded slot.

4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3, further comprising: roller meanscarried by said hold down plate in contact with the periphery of said belt in the area of contraction of the belt periphery as it leaves said leading sprocket, whereby, said roller means is frictionally driven by movement of said belt, and in turn, by rotating, forces an inserted wire to move downwardly within its slot.

5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein said crimping press includes electrically energizable means for initiating movement of said movable crimping die, and said apparatus further includes: a source of electrical power and switch means responsive to sensing the dwell of said intermittently moved belt and responsive to sensing the presence of a wire within the belt slot positioned at said crimping station for completing an electrical circuit including said source and said electrically energizable means.

6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5, further comprising; ramp means positioned between said endless conveyor belt and said fixed crimping anvil, said ramp means including a portion inclining upwardly in a direction away from said loading station towards said crimping station to raise the inner end of each wire to a position above said terminal and between and overlying the barrel portion of the same.

7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4, further comprising a longitudinal slot within said hold down plate on the side facing said belt, and a longitudinal ridge carried by said endless conveyor belt extending radially outwardly therefrom and movable within said longitudinal slot, to prevent introduction of wires between the hold down plate and said belt at other than at one of said transverse slots.

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein said ramp means includes a first fixed portion intermediate of said crimping station and said loading station, and a second movable portion in line with said movable crimping die, and spring means biasing said movable portion such that its upper edge is in line with the upper edge of said fixed ramp portion, whereby; depression of said movable crimping die towards said anvil causes the wire adjacent to said die upon contact therewith, to press said movable ramp portion downwardly against the bias of the spring so as not to restrict crimping of the wire barrel portion of the terminal to said wire nor bending of the wire extending away therefrom and towards said endless conveyor belt.

9. An apparatus for applying terminals onto the ends of wires, comprising, in combination:

a crimping press having a crimping zone, a fixed crimping anvil and crimping die within said zone, said anvil having a supporting surface for supporting a terminal during application thereof to the end of a wire, said die being movable between open and closed position along a first path towards and away from said anvil,

terminal strip feeding means for feeding a strip of said terminals along a second path which extends transversely of said first path, said second path terminating at said surface, whereby the leading terminal of said strip is located on said surface after actuation of said feeding means, conveyor for transporting wires to said crimping zone, said conveyor having spaced-apart wire receiving slots extending transversely thereon which open onto one surface of said conveyor, pair of sprockets mounted on each side of said crimping zone and adjacent to said press and defining a loading station and a discharge station on opposite sides of a crimping station at said crimping zone, one portion of said conveyor which extends between said sprockets defining a reference plane which includes said supporting surface of the said anvil, the conveyor being peripherally elongated in the area of contact with said sprocket to laterally enlarge said slots and to permit loading of wires at said loading station and discharge of said wires from said conveyor at said discharge station,

an extended wire supporting surface to said reference plane extending laterally of said conveyor and away from said conveyor loading station sprocket, and

a fixed wire stop surface at said loading station on the same side of said conveyor as said die, said stop being located such that a wire located on said conveyor by moving across said extended wire supporting surface has its end positioned by said stop so that it will be presented to said crimping die subsequent to said movement from said loading station to said crimping station.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein said conveyor comprises an endless elastomeric belt rotatably carried by said sprockets, and wherein said belt in passing about the periphery of said sprockets has the outer belt periphery circumferentially stretched to laterally enlarge said transverse slots at both the conveyor loading station and the conveyor discharge station, and wherein said apparatus further comprises a hold down plate overlying the upper run of said belt and a portion of the belt which extends angularly about a portion of said sprocket at said loading station, said hold down plate being spaced slightly above said extended wire supporting surface and forming at the edge of the same closest of the belt periphery, a gap permitting a wire moving across said extended wire supporting surface to fall through the gap and into a belt slot radially aligned therewith.

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said hold down plate includes roller means mounted for rotation within said plate, with the periphery of the same in contact with the periphery of the belt at the point of demarcation between the upper longitudinal run of said belt and that portion wrapped about the periphery of the leading sprocket, whereby, wires fed onto said belt properly move into arespective slot by contact with the periphery of the said roller which is frictionally driven by the belt.

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, further comprising: first shielding means surrounding said crimping zone and a second shielding means overlying said hold down plate and extending away from the edge of the same and terminating in a curved portion overlying said discharge sprocket, whereby, said hold down plate and said first and second shielding means prevents the operator from contacting either said endless belt, or said die.

13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein said extended wire support surface terminates in an in clined edge at a vertical plane defining said loading station and said apparatus further includes a second wire supporting surface lying just beneath said extended wire supporting surface and extending across the front of said apparatus from a loading station to the discharge station and generally supporting the wires extending outwardly from said conveyor belt and away from said crimping zone.

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, further comprising a rectangular recess formed within said extended wire supporting surface and said second wire supporting surface to each side of the loading station, and in front and away from the front edge of said hold ridge carried by said endless conveyor belt extending radially outwardly therefrom and movable within said longitudinal slot, to prevent introduction of wires between the hold down plate and said belt at other than comprising a longitudinal slot within said hold down at one of said transverse slots.

plate on the side facing said belt, and a longitudinal 

1. In an apparatus for applying terminals at the ends of wires including: a crimping press having a crimping zone, said crimping zone being formed by a fixed crimping anvil and a crimping die movable towards and away from said anvil, terminal strip feeding means for feeding a strip of terminals into said zone, onto said anvil and in the path of said die, the improvement comprising: an elastomeric conveyor for transporting wires from a loading station to said crimping zone said conveyor carrying transverse longitudinally spaced slots for receiving wires therein, said conveyor being positioned to one side of said crimping zone so as to place an extended portion of each wire within said zone and in juxtaposition to the leading terminal of said strip, said elastomeric conveyor comprising an endless elastomeric belt supported by sprockets at respective ends on opposite sides of said crimping station with the leading sprocket defining said loading station and said trailing sprocket defining a discharge station, said sprockets serving to transversely expand each slot at said loading station and said discharge station to permit wire loading and unloading a wire support source surface to one side of said loading station extending laterally away from said loading station in the direction opposite to that of the crimping station, and a second fixed surface at said loading station and extending along said wire support surface and defining a wire end stop whereby wires supported on said wire support surface with their ends in contact with said end stop may be readily manually loaded onto said conveyor for subsequent presentment to said crimping station.
 2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: means for intermittently advancing said elastomeric conveyor and wherein the spacing between respective slots is such as to present one wire at said crimping station and an unfilled slot simultaneously at said loading station.
 3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a hold down plate overlying said endless belt, in juxtaposition thereto, said hold down plate extending from said loading station to said crimping station and including a lip conforming to a portion of said belt in contact with the periphery of said leading sprocket and spaced slightly from the edge of the wire support surface to define a gap therebetween permitting a wire to fall into a laterally expanded slot.
 4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3, further comprising: roller means carried by said hold down plate in contact with the periphery of said belt in the area of contraction of the belt periphery as it leaves said leading sprocket, whereby, said roller means is frictionally driven by movement of said belt, and in turn, by rotating, forces an inserted wire to move downwardly within its slot.
 5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein said crimping press includes electrically energizable means for initiating movement of said movable crimping die, and said apparatus further includes: a source of electrical power and switch means responsive to sensing the dwell of said intermittently moved belt and responsive to sensing the presence of a wire within the belt slot positioned at said crimping station for completing an electrical circuit including said source and said electrically energizable means.
 6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5, further comprising: ramp means positioned between said endless conveyor belt and said fixed crimping anvil, said ramp means including a portion inclining upwardly in a direction away from said loading station towards said crimping station to raise the inner end of each wire to a position above said terminal and between and overlying the barrel portion of the same.
 7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4, further comprising a longitudinal slot within said hold down plate on the side facing said belt, and a longitudinal ridge carried by said endless conveyor belt extending radially outwardly therefrom and movable within said longitudinal slot, to prevent introduction of wires between the hold down plate and said belt at other than at one of said transverse slots.
 8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein said ramp means includes a first fixed portion intermediate of said crimping station and said loading station, and a second movable portion in line with said movable crimping die, and spring means biasing said movable portion such that its upper edge is in line with the upper edge of said fixed ramp portion, whereby; depression of said movable crimping die towards said anvil causes the wire adjacent to said die upon contact therewith, to press said movable ramp portion downwardly against the bias of the spring so as not to restrict crimping of the wire barrel portion of the terminal to said wire nor bending of the wire extending away therefrom and towards said endless conveyor belt.
 9. An apparatus for applying terminals onto the ends of wires, comprising, in combination: a crimping press having a crimping zone, a fixed crimping anvil and crimping die within said zone, said anvil having a supporting surface for supporting a terminal during application thereof to the end of a wire, said die being movable between open and closed position along a first path towards and away from said anvil, terminal strip feeding means for feeding a strip of said terminals along a second path which extends transversely of said first path, said second path terminating at said surface, whereby the leading terminal of said strip is located on said surface after actuation of said feeding means, a conveyor for transporting wires to said crimping zone, said conveyor having spaced-apart wire receiving slots extending transversely thereon which open onto one surface of said conveyor, a pair of sprockets mounted on each side of said crimping zone and adjacent to said press and defining a loading station and a discharge station on opposite sides of a crimping station at said crimping zone, one portion of said conveyor which extends between said sprockets defining a reference plane which includes said supporting surface of the said anvil, the conveyor being peripherally eLongated in the area of contact with said sprocket to laterally enlarge said slots and to permit loading of wires at said loading station and discharge of said wires from said conveyor at said discharge station, an extended wire supporting surface to said reference plane extending laterally of said conveyor and away from said conveyor loading station sprocket, and a fixed wire stop surface at said loading station on the same side of said conveyor as said die, said stop being located such that a wire located on said conveyor by moving across said extended wire supporting surface has its end positioned by said stop so that it will be presented to said crimping die subsequent to said movement from said loading station to said crimping station.
 10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein said conveyor comprises an endless elastomeric belt rotatably carried by said sprockets, and wherein said belt in passing about the periphery of said sprockets has the outer belt periphery circumferentially stretched to laterally enlarge said transverse slots at both the conveyor loading station and the conveyor discharge station, and wherein said apparatus further comprises a hold down plate overlying the upper run of said belt and a portion of the belt which extends angularly about a portion of said sprocket at said loading station, said hold down plate being spaced slightly above said extended wire supporting surface and forming at the edge of the same closest of the belt periphery, a gap permitting a wire moving across said extended wire supporting surface to fall through the gap and into a belt slot radially aligned therewith.
 11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said hold down plate includes roller means mounted for rotation within said plate, with the periphery of the same in contact with the periphery of the belt at the point of demarcation between the upper longitudinal run of said belt and that portion wrapped about the periphery of the leading sprocket, whereby, wires fed onto said belt properly move into a respective slot by contact with the periphery of the said roller which is frictionally driven by the belt.
 12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, further comprising: first shielding means surrounding said crimping zone and a second shielding means overlying said hold down plate and extending away from the edge of the same and terminating in a curved portion overlying said discharge sprocket, whereby, said hold down plate and said first and second shielding means prevents the operator from contacting either said endless belt, or said die.
 13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein said extended wire support surface terminates in an inclined edge at a vertical plane defining said loading station and said apparatus further includes a second wire supporting surface lying just beneath said extended wire supporting surface and extending across the front of said apparatus from a loading station to the discharge station and generally supporting the wires extending outwardly from said conveyor belt and away from said crimping zone.
 14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, further comprising a rectangular recess formed within said extended wire supporting surface and said second wire supporting surface to each side of the loading station, and in front and away from the front edge of said hold down plate, thereby permitting the operator to easily move a selected wire to said loading station for positioning within an expanded conveyor slot.
 15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, further comprising a longitudinal slot within said hold down plate on the side facing said belt, and a longitudinal ridge carried by said endless conveyor belt extending radially outwardly therefrom and movable within said longitudinal slot, to prevent introduction of wires between the hold down plate and said belt at other than at one of said transverse slots. 